Police recruitment faces criticism

THERE seem to be an unending criticisms regarding the ongoing police recruitment process in this column in recent times by few rejected police trainee applicant’s questioning the police recruitment process.
Many believe that a lot of misrepresentation of qualifications (fake qualification or using another’s certificates) by people with little educational background were enlisted in the recent police recruitment process.
Accordingly, the writer’s views are valid but I disagree with some of his comments that ‘genuine Grade 12 school leavers would have been considered to improve the increasing policy brutality and to ensure fluent English speakers are recruited to communicate effectively with the Australian federal police engaged in the country.”
The writer must know that today’s Grade 12 school leavers are as equal as Grade 6 or 8 drop outs, unlike what used to in the 70s and 80s.
They lack efficient English proficiency in both spoken and written, coupled with endless grammatical errors, don’t know where to start and end a paragraph among others.
The best thing the writer would do is to go back to the classroom and upgrade all his grade 12 subjects and work hard to enter universities and colleges or any other training institutions. The writer further claims that a Grade 12 leaver will do a better job for the RPNGC, but writer must know that half of the policemen and women serving the RPNGC are all Grade 12 graduates but had never changed the face of the RPNGC.
This is a trend seen evident in the court rooms on weekly basis, resulting many high profile cases being strike-out or subject to lengthy deferrals, while many renowned criminals and murders alike continue to walk out of prison from the deliberate negligence of incompetent police personnel with a Grade 12 certificates.
My suggestion is for the RPNGC is to review its recruitment process by directly recruiting genuine Grade 12 school leavers on merits.
The other option is to recruit university graduates studying language and literature in our premier universities to ensure highly qualified people are recruited to resuscitate the depleting incident or crime investigation reports among all other issues of police misconduct.
With a credible merit based selection process, quality and competent police officers equipped with the right knowledge and skills will be trained to take up the challenging roles and responsibilities with pride and dignity.
Ken Nandawa
Rou’areke Weki